Ahh, he went to Law School a few years after undergrad. He thought it would better his life. Now everyday he contemplates throwing himself in front of a train. No joke, no lie. It’s horrifying to me that I may get a call from the NYPD telling me he did it.

Lots of complicated factors went into my decision to move north and finish my degree at an excellent private college. None of which I’m going to discuss here. Suffice to say I probably would have not have what I have now if I choose to stay put in the state I was living in.

Um, not sure when you were in school but I worked my way through (public) college and part of law school and racked up debt from both. Even though I’m doing public interest work now, I’m unlikely to choose to stay since the actual rates of forgiveness are in the single digit percentage of those who apply. I will…

I am doing the public interest forgiveness thing. I am very lucky that I found an area of legal practice I really enjoy and was able to do a few years at a non-profit, and when I burned out, I jumped to government. I have about 4 more years of payments left.

IF YOUNGS DIDN’T HAVE DEBT, THEY’D GET THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR HOUSE, BABY BOOMERS.

I’m pretty sure that’s what our government wants. Dumber people make easy voters against their own interests.

A college education has not always required debt. I got my bachelor’s in 2001, and at that point, if you had a good summer job, you could make enough to pay a year of in-state tuition at a public university. Even then, teachers were required to have a master’s.

A bachelor’s from a public school should not put you in…

I was about to say “This plan gives you Boomer dicks grandkids, you should all be on board.”

Being able to afford a Masters is not the same as being able to get one. At least half of the cohort in my Masters program dropped out at some point. It’s not for everyone, nor does it need to be. That does not mean it’s not valuable for those who get one, and I’m sure you’ve take advantage of the knowledge from people…

“But it’s supported systemically by those who profit off of it”

“Much of higher education is not worth the cost”

Calling degrees “worthless” just because they don’t necessarily translate to a high-income position post-college is so, so idiotic. 

It is completely bananas how much we pay for college. I went to community college for the first 2 years of undergrad in the late 90's/early aughts and thankfully that cost me less about $1,000 a semester. I could barely afford that. I had to work full time to pay tuition and rent but I lived in a relatively low cost…

Right? My not being able to pay off my Master’s has nothing to do with working at Starbucks and everything to do with being told I need to get this degree in order to teach and then turning around and saying, you got the degree, but now we won’t hire you because you have experience and education that’s too costly.

“i have a worthless liberal arts degree and this minimum wage barista job means i can’t afford to pay it back” feels like someone who never took their obligation seriously to begin with - they did not plan for how to pay it back.

What a shitty take. 

It might be anecdotal, but in my immediate circle, this is true almost across the board. Most of my friends are in their early to mid thirties and most of them aren’t buying a house/having a baby because their student loan debt repayment is still so high that it takes up a significant chunk of their incomes. 

Student loan debt isn’t the same as materialistic debt, conflating the 2 is asinine.

The baby boomers before us went to college for a FRACTION of what it costs now - my parents boast of community college courses either being free, OR CLASSES TOTALING $15 a semester. Compare that to the 20K it costs for a 4 year degree at a state school (that’s the cost if you live at home - god forbid you need money…

A massive wipe of student debt in the U.S. would trigger a huge spending boom in housing and autos, and probably bump up birth rates as young Americans who were looking down the barrel of decades of debt would decide they could have the 2.5 kids their parents had. And all the critics are going to worry about is that…